Hello! I am considering purchasing an ethernet switch for LAN parties. They are a great alternative to school wifi that uses a potato as a router for 2000 students. Thing is, Linus hasn't answered my prayers and made a video about the differences between the hundreds of kinds!! A am a newbie at networking, but am curious. Feel free to tell me all about it while you stop by this thread For example, https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Gigabit-Ethernet-Desktop-TL-SG108/dp/B00A121WN6/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480558813&sr=1-3&keywords=ethernet+switch&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A7306161011 What does desktop unmanaged mean? And easy smart? Which should I choose? What are the differences? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Gigabit-Ethernet-Desktop-TL-SG1008D/dp/B001EVGIYG/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480558813&sr=1-7&keywords=ethernet+switch&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A7306161011 This looks more like a consumer-grade switch. Should I go for this one or the blue, business-looking switch? What are the differences? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-ProSAFE-Gigabit-Desktop-GS108-400NAS/dp/B00MPVR50A/ref=sr_1_14?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480558813&sr=1-14&keywords=ethernet+switch&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A7306161011 And about the Netgear, is it better than the TP-Link? How can I tell? And what are the differences between it's different types? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do I even need Gigabit? Or will "Fast ethernet" settle? What are the better brands and models? I want an 8-port switch, and I've heard they daisychain nicely in case we need more ports for our LAN party. Thanks so much for your help! Sincerely, Benjamin P.S. How do you connect an access point to the internet? Would that be a router or? Thanks again. You're awesome!

Help! Ethernet Switch 101

By benjamin051000
December 1, 2016 in Networking

https://linustechtips.com/topic/700093-help-ethernet-switch-101/

Go to solution Solved by AshleyAshes, December 1, 2016

2 minutes ago, benjamin051000 said:

Can you daisy chain them together? In case I for some reason needed more than 8 ports

Yup. You know those four ports on your router? Those are also a switch. The router has a switch built that gives it four ports (Well they USUALLY have four. Some really do have just one...) By hooking up another switch to your router, you are already daisy chaining and you can daisy chain more.

Posted December 1, 2016

depending on how big your network gets and type of traffic each game generate, you might want to throw a couple of routers in there to break up the broadcast domains, but you should be fine with a single 48 port switch, assuming you don't daisy chain too many of them.